FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Birgit Spears, Botanical Society of America

  bspears@botany.org

  314.577.9504

PlantingScience Awarded $2.9M Grant from the National Science Foundation

—Science teacher training and development program to be implemented by the Botanical Society of America and 15 scientific society partners—

St. Louis, October 1, 2015 - The Botanical Society of America (BSA), the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) have been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for further development and support for the middle and high school science education program PlantingScience. Launched 10 years ago, PlantingScience is an online learning community where scientists provide mentorship to middle and high school students, helping students design and think through their own research projects. PlantingScience is a collaboration of 15 international scientific societies and is administered by the BSA.

The award will go toward building and testing a new model of teacher development.  High school science teachers and early career plant scientists from across the United States will work together in person and online to improve each other’s teaching and mentoring skills, while at the same time co-mentoring teams of students doing independent research in the classroom. The grant will also fund rigorous research on the effect of the new collaborative model on science teaching and student outcomes.

“We are thrilled to have been awarded this research grant for PlantingScience. The new training model will take advantage of unique knowledge and skills that high school science teachers and early career scientists can offer each other. Students will benefit from having practicing scientists working closely with them, providing personalized feedback and helping overcome negative stereotypes about who scientists are and what science is really like,” explains Catrina Adams, PhD, Director of Education, Botanical Society of America.

The funding will also make possible website upgrades that will significantly increase capacity to allow more schools and teachers to participate, allowing the program to grow exponentially.

About PlantingScience

PlantingScience addresses the problem of declining science literacy and the critical lack of resources available to middle and high school teachers. Over 900 scientists from 15 scientific societies volunteer to directly support teachers, and mentor students, in student-led scientific research projects designed to adhere to 21st-century standards, including the Next Generation Science Standards. The program and accompanying resources are free of charge to science teachers.

About the Botanical Society of America

The Botanical Society of America (BSA) administers and develops PlantingScience in collaboration with 15 professional scientific organization partners. With an international membership of over 3,300 plant scientists, the BSA is the leading organization dedicated to promoting the breadth and diversity of the botanical field through research and education. The BSA publishes the American Journal of Botany (AJB), a peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary plant research journal; Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS); an open access journal; and the Plant Science Bulletin.  The Society also hosts an annual botanical conference, attended by over 1100 scientists each year.

PlantingScience Partner Organizations

American Bryological and Lichenological Society

American Fern Society

American Institute for Biological Sciences

American Phytopathological Society

American Society of Agronomy

American Society of Plant Biologists

American Society of Plant Taxonomists

Botanical Society of America

Canadian Botanical Association

Crop Science Society of America

Ecological Society of America

Société Botanique de France

Society for Economic Botany

Society for the Study of Evolution

Soil Science Society of America